How do oil and gas companies in the North Sea need to evolve in order to sustain talent pools

For the first time since 2014, oil and gas sector talent managers are expecting to see an increase in new jobs being created, in comparison to jobs lost. As one of the oldest hydrocarbon basins in the world, the North Sea industry has proved to be one of the key contributors to the EU economy. The future of North Sea industry is still in an unsure state, with cost efficiency and the need to address leadership at front of mind for those looking to improve the longevity of the sector.

The North Sea

The North Sea has the potential the offer approximately 20-30bn boe of undiscovered resources, primarily located in the areas around the West of Shetland, the Atlantic Margin and the UKCS/NCS border. Many senior stakeholders within the sector have offered their opinion that the opportunity to rescue the basin must be implemented quickly, however, all activities must be pursued on a collaborative basis, offering mutual benefits to all parties.

In 2017, the number of new-project start-ups reached a ten-year high, which results in an overall increase in barrels of oil and gas harvested from the area, each day. The anticipated tax revenues for this amounted to £1bn for this financial year.

Expectation for oil and gas recruitment over the next year

In order to deliver effective business growth over the next couple of years, recruitment efforts need to be optimised in order attract top talent from around the world. With the UK losing so many highly skilled workers due to Brexit, talent managers working in the oil and gas sector need to create concrete plans which are sure to attract overseas talent to the UK, increase the skill sets of their existing employees and boost the attractiveness of working in Britain to those in the industry further afield.

The next generation of oil and gas professionals will need to be nurtured in order to entice them to enter and remain in the UK industry, which will also aim to support in reducing the skills gaps. Organisations will have to contend with one another, evolving their recruitment offerings in order to effectively attract new candidates.

Equally, talent management should effectively manage the expectations of candidates, due to the realignment of the economic state of the oil and gas industry and should have a steadfast reactive recruitment strategy in place to prevent onboarding issues and ensure that operational effectiveness can still be achieved, even during times of turmoil and uncertainty.

Finally, talent managers, particularly those who are overseeing large-scale recruitment efforts, should resist the urge to reduce costs when it comes to creating talent pools. As tempting as it is to reduce those percentages, this can result in false economy. Expensive resources and time can be wasted by tracking costs so closely but also reducing the talent pool offering and potential skill sets available due to excessive cost monitoring.